Rich Center gets grant to aid in autism diagnosis
Staff report
youngstown
The Rich Center for Autism received a $95,000 grant this year to help children in minority communities get properly diagnosed.
“There’s nothing more joyful than a bipartisan effort to get this money,” said J. Georgia Backus, executive director of the center. “George Voinovich, former-U.S. senator and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, focused on this wonderful and much-needed cause.”
Studies indicate African- American and Hispanic children receive misdiagnosis of autism more often then the general majority, according to the center.
“Minority children are being diagnosed with autism two years later than other children,” said Backus. “Those two years are vital to their development success.”
For the past several months, advocates at the Rich Center have been designing and implementing an outreach program aimed at Hispanic and African-American families in the Mahoning Valley, including Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
The goal is to raise autism awareness and empower the minority community, so they can help their younger children by seeking treatment and enrolling them in programs if needed.
The center advises people to tell and retell their doctor if they notice their children are avoiding eye contact, prefer to play alone, do not respond to their name, repeat actions over and over, repeat words or phrases rather than use normal language and flap hands, rock or walk on their toes.